Your Money or Your Life!

190/YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!

Table 14.1 Evolution of external debt In Latin America and the

Caribbean (Sbn)

Year 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1996

Latin America total

38 69 228 378 439 573 607*

Main debtor countries
Brazil
Mexico
Argentina
Venezuela
Peru
Colombia
Chile

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

20

17

8

4

4

4

4

70

51

27

30

10

7

11

105

98

49

34

14

14

20

123

102

61

36

20

18

19

169

164

84

35

26

21

21

176

168.5

96.2

37

27

22

25

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

0.6

0.6

n.a.

6

2.7

0.3

1.2

1.0

1.8

0.8

n.a.

3.3

0.6

2.0

2.7

4.9

1.7

12

3.8

0.8

2.2

2.6

10.5

1.7

n.a.

4.5

0.9

2.1

2.1

10.2

1.4

14.5

n.a.

n.a.

2.3

3.0

n.a.

n.a.

Sub-total as share of total Latin American and Caribbean debt

n.a. 94% 90% 88% 86% 91% 91%

Medium-sized countries
Ecuador

Small countries
Bolivia
Haiti
El Salvador
Guatemala
Nicaragua
Paraguay

Source: CADTM, based on CEP AL and BIS figures.

*In its 19 9 7 report, the World Bank provides a figure for total Latin American

debt S49.5 billion higher than the one given here (S 6 5 6.5 billion as opposed

to the CEP AL figure of S607 billion),

n.a. = not available

only a few countries have registered a fall in poverty (Chile,

Colombia). (UNDP, 1997)

From a theoretical perspective, privatising for efficiency's sake is

about as logical as saying that you have to put an oven in direct

sunlight in order to bake bread. (Ugarteche, 1996)